Counting my blessings

This was inspired by Donna Bowman's recent post, "Lucky Me." I don't know if I'd consider myself as lucky as she is, but I'm still doing pretty OK. A dozen reasons why:

1. When I moved home briefly a few years ago, a major reason was because of my dad’s health. This eventually led to his getting bypass surgery- cardiac, not gastric. Thankfully, there were no complications. A year and a half later, you’d never guess he had heart problems.

2. My mom spent the first fifteen years of my life at home taking care of me and my brother. Once she returned to the workforce, she eventually found a job she loved- working on the ground crew for the Goodyear blimp. She spends most of her summers away from home, but she loves it all the same.

3. All of my grandparents are still alive and alert. They aren’t as young as they used to be, but who is? I still have time to spend with them and, more importantly, they still have their loved ones to keep them company. I can imagine few fates lonelier than weathering your final years without the person you love most.

4. As for me, my health is pretty good, and getting better. Working a set schedule means I have a consistent sleep pattern, and my migraines have mostly cleared up ever since I dropped caffeine from my diet. Plus I recently was able to take my belt in a notch. Which means my tactic of dietary moderation is working.

4 1/2 (just added). All five senses still work beautifully. Watching so many movies has taught me to love my sight and hearing, but lately I've been growing more and more fond of my sense of taste*. This is a pretty great time to be a lover of food, and Columbus is a pretty good place to be to indulge that love, even if like me you're on a budget. There's plenty of different foods to choose from here, running the gamut from old-school to thoroughly modern. Consider that last night I stopped at a coffee shop and picked up some bread pudding**, while today I dropped in at Jeni's Ice Cream and tried one of their seasonal flavors, called Crème de Violet***. If the variety of desserts offered around here is that impressive, imagine the meals one can find.

5. My mind is as active and alert as ever. Even when the task in front of me doesn’t demand a whole lot of thought, I have plenty to occupy my brain. I wouldn't trade my intelligence for anything- not money, not fame, not charisma with the ladies, nothing.

6. I know I complain a lot about my job, but I’m pretty lucky in this respect. I can afford my own apartment, to pay for all my necessities, and still have time left over for the simple pleasures that make my life rewarding.

7. Columbus may not have the formidable amount of cinema and arts options of a New York City, but it beats the hell out of most places. The Wexner Center in particular is invaluable to the cultural landscape of my life.

8. Most of my favorite films are out on DVD, with others on the way. And more as-yet-unseen treasures too, still waiting to be discovered. Yes, I'd love to be able to watch all the greats on the big screen, but being able to see them at all is wonderful enough for me.

9. My guinea pigs are as cute and fun as ever. First I bought Muriel last fall to give me a life to worry about besides my own and keep me company, and a few months later I bought Victoria to keep Muriel company when I wasn’t around. A month later, Victoria surprised me by having babies, and I ended up getting two of them adopted and keeping the third for myself. I couldn’t be happier- Charlotte is as adorable as her mother, and is a welcome addition to the menagerie. And Muriel is as cute and ornery as ever, but that’s OK, since I’m kind of ornery too.

10. In addition to the job that pays the bills, I’ve been lucky these past few months to write for The Screengrab, which allows me to parlay my twin passions for cinema and talking/writing about cinema into a few extra bucks a week. Sometimes I wish I could write about movies full-time, but I’ll take what I can get. As it is, the relatively light writing demands placed upon me by The Screengrab give me an outlet for my love of cinema, plus lend some structure to my weekly routine. When the most difficult aspect of a job is coming up with a new Movie Moment every week, you know you've got a pretty good gig. And being on the same writing staff with Vern is pretty sweet too.

11. My writing has connected me with a lot of other great writers and bloggers online, not just those with a cinematic focus- like this one and this one and this one- but more broad-minded types as well, like this one and this one. You really can’t go wrong with any of the cool cats in the blogroll on my main blog- some post more frequently than others (and most more frequently than me) but they’re all worth reading.

12. I’m young and relatively free. No significant other, no kids. Makes the nights lonely sometimes, but I can deal with it. Even more than when I had just graduated from college, I feel like I have a world of possibilities is open to me. And if one of those possibilities is marriage and a family, then hey, that’s fine too.

* Last year I took my grandma and grandpa out to lunch one day, and my grandma told me that she has almost completely lost her sense of taste. No doubt this is due to a combination of smoking for a few decades and, y'know, being 90 years old, but still, yikes. Much of the enjoyment of eating must be gone if you can't taste your food, and the workmanlike way she shoveled bean soup into her mouth reflected this. Because if you can't taste what you eat, what's left? The texture? The temperature? To no longer be able to taste the foods I love- whether it's a big fat steak or a Galley Boy from Swenson's in Akron- is almost too sad to bear.

** I have a weakness for somewhat outmoded foods (is there anywhere around here that serves a good corned beef hash?) and I'd say bread pudding certainly qualifies. Verdict on this particular incarnation: Not bad, but nothing worth writing home about. Certainly not as good as the place I get bread pudding whenever I'm in Cleveland, which usually uses the previous day's muffins. Usually they would use blueberry, which was tasty enough, but it was a special treat when they had leftover cinnamon raisin muffins to use. Oh great, now I'm craving bread pudding. The only thing that's keeping me from getting it is the fact that it's a 3 hour drive to get the kind I really want. Of such unhappy accidents are successful diets made.

*** Yes, the flavor name is to be translated literally- as in "Cream of Violet." Jeni's uses special edible violets for this flavor, which has a light, fruity taste- perfect for eating in 80-something temperatures. The downside is that they're pretty pricey, but in a way that's good, since a little ice cream is about all I can afford to eat at one time without worrying about packing on pounds. So a small cone has become a kind of reward for a week of healthy eating, which gives me something to look forward to. Next week: Bartlett Pear and Riesling Sorbet!